


Too Little, Too Late

by Lizbettywrites



Category: The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers - All Media Types
Genre: Foreshadowing, Gen, Past Character Death, Past Relationship(s), Spoilers for More Than Meets the Eye Issue 15, Spoilers for More Than Meets the Eye Issue 19
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-02
Updated: 2016-10-02
Packaged: 2018-08-19 05:09:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 415
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8191430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lizbettywrites/pseuds/Lizbettywrites
Summary: Riptide learns of Pipes' fate—and not just how it ended.





	

The news of Pipes’ death was difficult to process. Riptide was no stranger to loss, but it felt like more of a tragedy that his friend had died after the war’s end. Poor Pipes. All he wanted was to see the universe. Well, that, and find romance. Apparently Pipes had had some success there. Riptide wasn’t sure how to feel about that, either.

For one thing, he’d never heard of the mech before now, let alone met him, and it was too late to fix that; Skids said he died not long after Pipes.

For another, this Ambulon didn’t look much like what Riptide had come to think Pipes had a thing for. The mech was lanky, average height, definitely not aquatic…

See, that led into the third thing—the thing Riptide was trying really, really hard not to think about. He’d been certain Pipes still had a thing for him. Not some ex-Con medic who turned into a leg, of all things. Sure, Riptide’s own t-cog wasn’t all that reliable, but at least his alt-mode was useful!

That was why he didn’t want to think about it. He’d get defensive. And he wasn’t ready to explore the reason for that defensiveness.

Not while he was sober, at any rate.

“—I mean, yeah? Like, I turned him down, but he wasn’ supposed to—to—you know—”

“Move on?”

“Yeah!”

“You realize what an aft that makes you sound like, right?”

Riptide swished his drink around miserably. “Maybe.”

“He’s dead—they both are—and you’re broken up over losing an admirer.” Atomizer shook his head. “Honestly, Riptide, don’t you think your time could be better spent on something else?”

“Like wha’?”

“Think about how Pipes died. Think about how Overlord got onto the ship… Then think about who created Overlord in the first place. I don’t know about you, but it’s kind of mind-boggling to think that a mech like that was made our captain, huh?”

Riptide slowly looked up, squinting at him through the haze of engex. What Atomizer was saying sank in. “Yeah… Yeah! Wha’ was Prime thinking… lettin’ the Slagmaker on our ship… complete an’ utter slaaaag…” It took too much effort to hold his head up, and it fell back onto the table with a thunk. “…ow…”

Atomizer stood and held out a hand. “Tell you what, buddy: I’ll help you back to your habsuite, and you can come find me when you’re sober. Looks like we’ve got some talking to do.”


End file.
